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Speeches of JFK
MSs of Senator JOHN F. KENNEDY speaking in West Virginia during Democratic primaries in 1960, commenting on his Catholicism. "There is no article of my faith that would in any way inhibit, I think it encourages, the meaning of my oath of office. And whether you vote for me or not because of my competence to be President, I am sure that here in this state of West Virginia that no one believes that I d be a candidate for the presidency if I didn t think I could meet my oath of office. Now you cannot tell me that the day I was born it was said I could never run for President because I wouldn t meet my oath of office. I came to the state of West Virginia, which has fewer numbers of my co-religionists than any state in the Union. I would not have come here if I didn t feel I was going to get complete opportunity to run for office as a fellow American in this state. I would not run for it, if in any way I didn t feel that I could do the job. So I come here today saying that I think that this is an issue Vote Kennedy May 10.
Speeches of JFK
President Harry Truman resigned as a delegate to the Democratic Presidential Nominating Convention. MCU reporter Last Wednesday former President Harry S Truman resigned as a delegate to Democratic Presidential nominating convention scheduled to begin in Los Angeles a week from Monday. Truman also announced he would not even attend the convention where he had been expected to lead the forces supporting the nomination of Senator Stuart Symington, a fellow Missourian. When Mr Truman dropped his bombshell, he promised he would hold a news conference later in the week clarifying his position. That moment is now at hand. MS Harry S Truman discussing his resignation. I have resigned as a delegate from Missouri to the Democratic National Convention. I did this because I have no desire what ever to be a party to proceedings that are taking on the aspects of a pre-arranged affair. A convention which is controlled in advance by one group & its candidate leaves the delegates no opportunity for a democratic choice and reduces the convention to a mockery. I ve always believed that the Democratic Party should stand for an open convention and should resist any bandwagon that thwarts or stifles the free and deliberative process of this great instrument of democracy. Don't mind that happening in the Republican convention, you understand. The democratic party must never be allowed to become a party of privilege, where a man of modest means or no means at all can not rise to a service in the nation. I m speaking up at this time, as I would hope that many of the delegates who have been stampeded or pressured into pre-convention commitments against their better judgments, and I know it first hand of such instances, I hope those delegates will have a chance to exercise further judgment. I want to make it clear that my disappointment at the manner in which some of the backers of Senator Joseph F. Kennedy have acted involves in no way, in my own mind the person or qualifications of the Senator himself. I think to a great extent, Senator Kennedy is victim of circumstances brought on by some of his over zealous backers which is unfortunate and unfair to him. Senator Kennedy has demonstrated ability, capacity and energy to play an important and continuing role in the party and in this government of ours. I ve always liked him personally and I still do. And because of this feeling, I want to say to him at this time, and I m going to quote a statement that I m making to Senator Kennedy, Senator, are you certain that you re quite ready to for the country or the country is ready for you, in the role of President in January 1961. I have no doubt about the political heights to which you are destined to rise, but I am deeply concerned and troubled about the situation we are up against in the world now and in the immediate future. That is why I hope that someone with the greatest possible maturity and experience would be available at this time. May I urge you to be patient. You will recall that I suggested to you at our meeting, that all personal ambitions be put aside
Speeches of JFK
A CBS news reporters sitting in the Hotel Roosevelt in NYC talks to camera about impending JFK press conference in rebuttal to a statement made by former President Harry S. Truman asking for his withdrawal from the Presidential race. We re in the ballroom of the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City, waiting for some real 4th of July political fireworks to get going here in this otherwise sedate chamber. We re waiting for Senator John F Kennedy of Massachusetts to come, and in a news conference suddenly called, answer President Harry S Truman who on Friday tried very hard to torpedo Senator Kennedy s front running candidacy. Mrs. Jacqueline Kenney has already come in, the Senator is on his way down. The Senator has timed his entrance very well, coming in almost on the dot. He has come down from his summer home at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts . Senator John F. Kennedy enters, takes podium, begins speech, Last Saturday one of our most dedicated and courageous Presidents gave the nation his views on the forthcoming Democratic Convention. In as much as Mr. Truman s remarks were directed at me I m taking this opportunity to respond to his statement. First, Mr. Truman suggested that I step aside as a candidate in 1960. In response let me say, I do not intend to step aside at anyone s request. I was the only candidate to risk my chances in all the primaries. The only one to visit every state. I have encountered and survived every kind of hazard and opposition and I do not intend to withdraw my name now on the eve of the convention. Secondly, Mr. Truman asserted that the convention would be controlled or prearranged. In response let me say to the extent that I have anything to do with it, it will be an open convention. As every convention of our broadly based party is open. Even though our candidate has been selected on the first ballot in every single convention but one since 1932, including the 1948 convention, which nominated Mr. Truman. To me an open convention means one reflecting the free will of delegates, freely elected and contested primaries and in state conventions. But based on my observations of him in 1952 and in 1956 and last Saturday, Mr. Truman regards an open convention as one which studies all the candidates, reviews their records and then takes his advise.
Speeches of JFK
A compilation of speeches made by John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Speeches of JFK
Dec 2, 1960, Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA. MS of Senator JOHN F. KENNEDY speaking at rally on campaign trail, 1960, where he verbally trashes the Republican party & Richard Nixon. "I run against a candidate who reminds me of the symbol of his Party. The circus elephant, his head full of ivory. A long memory and no vision and you have seen elephants being led around the circus ring, they grab the tail of the elephant in front of them. That was all right in 1952 and 1956, but there s no tail to grab this year, it s Mr. Nixon himself and I don t believe he will resecure an endorsement of the majority of citizens of this country." Shots on campaign trail. Cheering supporters.
Speeches of JFK
Sept, 12, 1960 Address of Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. JFK says there are greater issues than that of his Catholic faith, calling attention to the spread of communism around the world (especially in Cuba), the mistreatment of American officials in former allied countries, domestic poverty, the elderly, our slow progress into the space race, etc. C/A shots of Mr. Kennedy, accompanied by wife JACQUELINE KENNEDY, on campaign trail. MSs of men speaking at a meeting of Southern ministers, "Please understand that this is not a political rally. This is a meeting of the Association of ministers. And we rely upon your sense for good order, proper respect for the nominee to the highest office of our land, and good Christain behavior generally." Another gentleman, "Contrary to common propaganda, the South is not a hotbed of religious or racial intolerance. There are many honest minds that are raising honest questions. Many Catholics differ with us on many questions that are relevant to the wellfare of our country. The fact that the Senator is with us tonight is to concede that a religious issues does exist. It is because there are many serious minds, decently raising questions that we have invited the speaker of the evening. It is for that same reason that we have allowed this meeting to be broadcast. To that end, I would like to introduce at this time, the Senator from MAssachuetts and the Democratic canidate for the President of teh United States, Senator John F Kennedy." JFK assumes podium to deliver speech, "Reverend Meza, Reverend Reck, I'm grateful for your generous invitation to speak my views. While the so-called religious issue is necessarily and properly the chief topic here tonight, I want to emphasize from the outset that I believe that we have far more critical issues in the 1960 campaign; the spread of Communist influence, until it now festers 90 miles off the coast of Florida, the humiliating treatment of our President and Vice President by those who no longer respect our power, the hungry children I saw in West Virginia, the old people who cannot pay their doctor bills, the families forced to give up their farms, an America with too many slums, with too few schools, and too late to the moon and outer space. These are the real issues which should decide this campaign. And they are not religious issues, for war and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barriers. But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured--perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again--not what kind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me, but what kind of America I believe in. I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishoners for whom to vote, where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish, where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source, where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all. For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you, until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped apart at a time of great national peril."
Speeches of JFK
MSs of Sen. JOHN F. KENNEDY talking with Vice President RICHARD NIXON at WBBM-TV studio before a televised debate in 1960; shots of TV screen relaying signal of JFK debating. MS of Mr. Kennedy delivering speech at campaign rally, quoting all the libelous things Richard Nixon has publicly said. "Can you imagine if this country elects a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate and elects Dick Nixon Republican President of the United States? And then Lyndon Johnson and Sam Raburn go over to meet with him as the leader of the Congress and sit down with Dick Nixon, who in 1952 said Adlai Stevenson had a degree from the "Cowardly College of Containment." In 1954, called Truman a traitor. In 1960, called me a liar. In 1960, called Lyndon an ignoramus. Lyndon says he called me one. No, I say he called Lyndon one. He called me rash, imprudent, reckless, naive and uninformed, but he called Lyndon an ignoramus. You think he s going to sit down and work with him? I don t care how many rescue squads they send to help Dick Nixon travel around the United States. I don t care if Cabot Lodge and Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater all prop him up and push him forward and I don t care if they add Dewey, Landon and Hoover to advise them how to win."
Speeches of JFK
A compilation of speeches made by John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Speeches of JFK
June 11, 1963 Excerpt of President JOHN F. KENNEDY delivering a National address regarding the commission of the National Guard to ensure the enrollment of two African-American students into the University of Alabama. "Good evening my fellow citizens: This afternoon, following a series of threats and defiant statements, the presence of Alabama National Guardsmen was required on the University of Alabama to carry out the final and unequivocal order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama. That order called for the admission of two clearly qualified young Alabama residents who happened to have been born Negro. That they were admitted peacefully on the campus is due in good measure to the conduct of the students of the University of Alabama, who met their responsibilities in a constructive way. I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. And when Americans are sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only. It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops."
Speeches of JFK
September 25, 1961 Excerpt of President JOHN F. KENNEDY addressing the United Nations: "Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us."
Speeches of JFK
May 25, 1961 Excerpt of President JOHN F. KENNEDY delivering State of the Union speech to Joint Session of Congress: "...we are anxious to live in harmony with the Russian people, that we seek no conquests, no satellites, no riches, that we seek only the day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Finally, our greatest asset in this struggle is the American people, their willingness to pay the price for these programs, to understand and accept a long struggle, to share their resources with other less fortunate people, to meet the tax levels and close the tax loopholes I have requested, to exercise self-restraint instead of pushing up wages or prices, or over-producing certain crops, or spreading military secrets, or urging unessential expenditures or improper monopolies or harmful work stoppages, to serve in the Peace Corps or the Armed Services or the Federal Civil Service or the Congress, to strive for excellence in their schools, in their cities and in their physical fitness and that of their children, to take part in Civil Defense, to pay higher postal rates, and higher payroll taxes and higher teachers' salaries, in order to strengthen our society, to show friendship to students and visitors from other lands who visit us and go back in many cases to be the future leaders, with an image of America, and I want that image, and I know you do, to be affirmative and positive. And, finally, to practice democracy at home, in all States, with all races, to respect each other and to protect the Constitutional rights of all citizens. I have not asked for a single program which did not cause one or all Americans some inconvenience, or some hardship, or some sacrifice. But they have responded and you in the Congress have responded to your duty. And I feel confident in asking today for a similar response to these new and larger demands. It is heartening to know, as I journey abroad, that our country is united in its commitment to freedom and is ready to do its duty." Mr. Kennedy shakes hands with Vice-President LYNDON JOHNSON and the Speaker of the House before leaving rostrum.
Speeches of JFK
Use catalog # 429084 for complete speech. September 12, 1962 Excerpt of President JOHN F. KENNEDY speaking at Rice University in Houston, Texas. "We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say the we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours. There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
Speeches of JFK
June 26, 1963 Excerpt of President JOHN F. KENNEDY delivering the "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" speech in West Berlin. "Two thousand years ago. Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner." I appreciate my interpreter translating my German. There are many people in the world who really don t understand, or say they don t, what is the great issue between the Free World and the Communist World. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it s true that Communism is an evil system but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin. Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in. To prevent them from leaving us. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today to the hopes of tomorrow. Beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin or your country of Germany to the advance of freedom everywhere. Beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice. Beyond yourselves and ourselves to all Mankind. Freedom is indivisible and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. And when all are free, them we can look forward to that day and this city will be joined as one and this country and this great continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact they were in the front lines for almost two decades. All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man I take pride in the word Ich bin ein Berliner. Good C/As throughout of West Berliners in audience, listening, taking pictures, etc.
Speeches of JFK
October 22, 1962 Excerpts of President JOHN F. KENNEDY addressing the Nation on the Cuban Missile Crisis. "This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet Military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere." Edit. "Only last Thursday, as evidence of this rapid offensive buildup was already in my hand, Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko told me in my office that he was instructed to make it clear once again, as he said his government had already done, that Soviet assistance to Cuba, and I quote, pursued solely the purpose of contributing to the the defense capabilities of Cuba, that, and I quote him, training by Soviet specialists of Cuban nationals in handling defensive armaments was by no means offensive, and if it were otherwise. Mr. Gromyko went on, the Soviet Government would never become involved in rendering such assistance. That statement also was false." Edit. "Acting, therefore, in the defense of our own security and of the entire Western Hemisphere, and under the authority entrusted to me by the Constitution as endorsed by the resolution of the Congress, I have directed that the following initial steps be taken immediately: First: To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back." Edit. "It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union." Edit. "I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination, and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to transform the history of man." Edit. "Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- -not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved."
Speeches of Richard Nixon - Checkers Speech
MSs of Vice-Presidential candidate RICHARD NIXON standing with wife PAT NIXON on stage at the 1952 Republican National Convention
Speeches of Richard Nixon - Checkers Speech
Excerpts of RICHARD M. NIXON delivering the infamous "Checkers" speech, September 23, 1952 (televised political broadcast): "My Fellow Americans, I come here before you tonight as a candidate for the Vice President and as a man whose honesty and integrity has been questioned. The usual political thing to do when charges are made against you is to either ignore them or to deny them without giving details. I believe we've had enough of that in the United States, particularly with the present Administration in Washington, D.C. To me the office of the Vice Presidency is a great office and I feel that the people have got to have confidence in the integrity of the men who run for that office and who might obtain it. I have a theory, too, that the best and only answer to a smear or to an honest misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the truth." Edit. "Do you think that when I or any other Senator makes a political speech, has it printed, should charge the printing of that speech and the mailing of that speech to the taxpayers? Do you think when I or any other Senator makes a trip to his home state to make a purely political speech that the cost of that trip should be charged to the taxpayers? Do you think when a Senator makes political broadcasts or political Television broadcasts, radio or television, that the expense of those broadcasts should be charged to the taxpayers? I know what your answer is. It is the same answer that audiences give me whenever I discuss this problem. The answer is no. The taxpayers shouldn't be required to finance items which are not official business but which are primarily political business. Then the question arises, how do you pay for these and how can you do it legally? There are several ways that it can be done, and that it is done legally in the United States Senate and in the Congress. The first way is to be a rich man. I don't happen to be a rich man so I couldn't use that one. Another way that is used is to put your wife on the payroll. Let me say, incidentally, my opponent, my opposite number for the Vice Presidency on the Democratic ticket, does have his wife on the payroll and has had it, her on his payroll for ten years. That's his business and I'm not critical of him for doing that. You will have to pass judgment on that. But I have never done that for this reason. I have found that there are so many deserving stenographers & secretaries in Washington that needed the work that I just didn't feel it was right to put my wife on the payroll. My wife's sitting over here. She's a wonderful stenographer. She used to teach stenography and she used to teach shorthand in high school. That was when I met her." C/A of PAT NIXON.
Speeches of Richard Nixon - Checkers Speech
Vice Presidential candidate RICHARD M. NIXON continues the infamous Checkers speech, Sept. 23, 1952: "Now what I am going to do-- and this is unprecedented in the history of American politics. I am going at this time to give this television & radio audience a complete financial history; everything I've earned; everything I've spent; everything I owe." Edit. 07.06 "First of all I've had my salary as a Congressman and as a Senator. Second, I have received a total in this past 6 years of $1600 from estates which were in my law firm at the time that I severed my connection with it. I have not engaged in any legal practice & have not accepted any fees from business that came to the firm after I went into politics. I have made an average of approx $1500 a year from nonpolitical speaking engagements and lectures. And then, fortunately, we've inherited a little money. Pat sold her interest in her father's estate for $3,000 and I inherited $1500 from my grandfather. We lived rather modestly. For 4 years we lived in an apartment in Park Fairfax. The rent was $80 a month. We saved for the time that we could buy a house." C/A PAT NIXON sitting in chair, looking on. "That was what we took in. What did we do with this money? This will surprise you, because it is so little, as standards generally go, of people in public life. First of all, we've got a house in DC which cost $41,000 and on which we owe $20,000. We have a house in Whittier, California which cost $13,000 and on which we owe $3000. My folks are living there at the present time. I have just $4,000 in life insurance plus my G.I. policy which I've never been able to convert & which will run out in two years. I have no life insurance on Pat. I have no life insurance on Tricia & Julie. I own a 1950 Oldsmobile car. We have our furniture. We have no stocks & bonds of any type. We have no interest of any kind, direct or indirect, in any business. That's what we have. What do we owe? In addition to the mortgages, I owe $4,500 to the Riggs Bank in DC with interest 4 1/2 percent. I owe $3,500 to my parents & the interest on that loan which I pay regularly, because it's the part of the savings they made through the years they were working so hard, I pay regularly 4 percent. And then I have a $500 loan which I have on my life insurance."
Speeches of Richard Nixon - Checkers Speech
Vice Presidential candidate RICHARD M. NIXON continues the infamous Checkers speech, Sept. 23, 1952: "Well, that's about it. That's what we have and that's what we owe. It isn't very much but Pat and I have the satisfaction that every dime that we've got is honestly ours. I should say this, that Pat doesn't have a mink coat, but she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat. And I always tell her that she'd look good in anything. One other thing I probably should tell you because if we don't they'll probably be saying this about me too, we did get something, a gift after the election. A man down in Texas heard Pat on the radio mention the fact that our two youngsters would like to have a dog. And, believe it or not, the day before we left on this campaign trip we got a message from Union Station in Baltimore saying they had a package for us. We went down to get it. You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he'd sent all the way from Texas. Black & white spotted. Our little girl, Tricia, named it Checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're gonna keep it."
Speeches of Richard Nixon - Checkers Speech
Vice Presidential candidate RICHARD M. NIXON continues the infamous Checkers speech, Sept. 23, 1952: "It isn't easy to come before a nation-wide audience and air your life as I've done. But I want to say some things before I conclude." Edit. "in spite of the smears, the misunderstandings, the necessity for a man to come up here and bare his soul as I have? Why is it necessary for me to continue this fight? And I want to tell you why. Because, you see, I love my country. And I think my country is in danger. I think that the only man that can save America at this time is the man that's running for President on my ticket, Dwight Eisenhower. Look at the record. 7 years of Truman-Acheson administration and what's happened? 600 million people lost to the Communists & a war in Korea in which we have lost 117,000 Americans. I say to all of you that a policy that results in a loss of 600 million people to the Communists & a war which costs us 117,000 American casualties isn't good enough for America. I say that those in the State Department that made the mistakes which caused that war and which resulted in those losses should be kicked out of the State Department just as fast as we can get 'em out of there. And let me say that I know Mr. Stevenson won't do that. Because he defends the Truman policy and I know that Dwight Eisenhower will do that, and that he will give America the leadership that it needs. Take the problem of corruption. You've read about the mess in Washington. Mr. Stevenson can't clean it up because he was picked by the man, Truman, under whose Administration the mess was made. You wouldn't trust a man who made the mess to clean it up, that's Truman. And by the same token you can't trust the man who was picked by the man that made the mess to clean it up, and that's Stevenson. And so I say, Eisenhower, who owes nothing to Truman, nothing to the big city bosses, he is the man that can clean up the mess in Washington.
Speeches of Richard Nixon - Checkers Speech
Vice Presidential candidate RICHARD M. NIXON continues the infamous Checkers speech, Sept. 23, 1952: Take Communism. I say that as far as that subject is concerned, the danger is great to America. In the Hiss case they got the secrets which enabled them to break the American secret State Department code. They got secrets in the atomic bomb case which enabled them to get the secret of the atomic bomb, five years before they would have gotten it by their own devices. And I say that any man who called the Alger Hiss case a "red herring" isn't fit to be President of the United States. I say that a man who like Mr. Stevenson has pooh-poohed and ridiculed the Communist threat in the United States, he said that they are phantoms among ourselves; he's accused us that have attempted to expose the Communists of looking for Communists in the Bureau of Fisheries and Wildlife, I say that a man who says that isn't qualified to be President of the United States. And I say that the only man who can lead us in this fight to rid the Government of both those who are Communists and those who have corrupted this Government is Eisenhower, because Eisenhower, you can be sure, recognizes the problem and he knows how to deal with it." "And, now, finally, I know that you wonder whether or not I am going to stay on the Republican ticket or resign. Let me say this: I don't believe that I ought to quit because I'm not a quitter. And, incidentally, Pat's not a quitter. After all, her name was Patricia Ryan and she was born on St. Patrick's Day, and you know the Irish never quit. (C/A of PAT NIXON sitting in chair, listening.) "But the decision, my friends, is not mine. I would do nothing that would harm the possibilities of Dwight Eisenhower to become President of the United States. And for that reason I am submitting to the Republican National Committee tonight through this television broadcast the decision which it is theirs to make. Let them decide whether my position on the ticket will help or hurt. And I am going to ask you to help them decide. Wire and write the Republican National Committee whether you think I should stay on or whether I should get off. And whatever their decision is, I will abide by it. But just let me say this last word. Regardless of what happens I'm going to continue this fight. I'm going to campaign up and down America until we drive the crooks and the Communists and those that defend them out of Washington. And remember, folks, Eisenhower is a great man. Believe me. He's a great man. And a vote for Eisenhower is a vote for what's good for America."
Hanh-chanh Va Chi Khu.
Officers in casual khakis stand around in dark sun glasses, looking at camera. Pan of cannons, artillery on the ground. Overhead entry sign that reads HANH-CHANH VA CHI KHU. Soldiers with helmets lstand around. Pan row of cannons. Pan down one cannon with commemorative placard "Dai-Bac Ngan Nong 75 Ly: Dac Tinh" and a list of names below it. Brick wall partially built. Signs. Chinook helicopter flies overhead, flag in f/g. Military Policeman, black, holding rifle, standing, elbow propped on cement, guarding something. Smokes cigarette, scratches face.
Hanh-chanh Va Chi Khu.
Soldier sits among sandbags relaxing (on guard?). Zoom out. WS gate with camouflauged personnel walking in front of it. MS troops as ease, relaxing in a jeep - one with shirt open. Jean Bartel comes up and talks to them briefly. MSTruck with huge white star on it comes by camera. It stops in front of a building and then proceeds, with another military vehicle in tow. Nice MS of South Vietnamese bicycling towards and by camera. Rickshaws, Small cars, red cross trucks, etc. Esso sign in background. Huge truck with white stars on it - towards camera. Traffic policeman in road as trucks and traffic passes. MCU military jeeps in traffic, pedestrians, and cyclists. Good traffic scenes. Forklift in road. WS zoom in to CU of soldier sitting sandbags, smoking. MWS building exterior with pedestrians.
Speeches of Richard Nixon
Compilation of speeches made by Richard Milhous Nixon.
Speeches of Richard Nixon
Vice-President RICHARD M. NIXON speaks to the Soviet people in a televised broadcast at the American National Exhibition in Moscow, 1959: "That is why to me the concept of coexistence is completely inadequate and negative. Coexistence implies that the world must be divided into two hostile camps with a wall of hate and fear in between. What we need today is not two worlds, but one world, where different peoples choose the economic and political systems they want." "Mr. Khrushchev predicted that our children in the United States, our grandchildren, would live under Communism. And he reitterated his to me in our talks last Sunday. (C/A shots of Mr. Nixon touring the Kitchen of the Future with Soviet Premier NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV; PAT NIXON shakes hands.) And this is my answer to him. We do not say that your grandchildren will live under capitolism. We prefer our system, but the very essence of our belief is that we do not and we will not try to impose our sytem on anyone else. We believe that you all other peoples else on this earth should have the right to choose the economic or political system which best fits your problems and to do that without any foreign intervention."